Rumsfeld wrote:
Trotz was great with a limited budget but his teams are fucking boring as shit. No thanks.

The real question is whether his teams are boring because of the limited budget or not. Also, if boring means a chance winning the big thing, I don't mind a bit at all... but that is a big "if".

Well, you just have to review the roster and project if they have achieved similar if not better results if they played a more "offensively" minded style.

I can't think of too many high end offensive guys they've had during his long tenure there. They had Kariya for two seasons where he avg. close to PPG in his two season there and the Russian guy that went back to the motherland, and Forsberg for a short period of time, but other than that the team's management philosophy has been to be built with the goaltending and defense being their strengths.

Apparently Bylsma's fate will be decided by Shero's successor. There's a rumor that ownership was concerned about an apparent lack of candidates to replace Bylsma. We'll see, I guess.

Much as I would be delighted with the prospect of seeing Bylsma as coach, I would like to see a new GM first. Shero wouldn't be my first choice, and I wouldn't be surprised if he lands in Washington. That said, Benning and Bylsma (if he's fired) would be definite cause for optimism.

So Trotz and Desjardins appear the front-runners until we learn Bylsma's fate.

I admire Trotz' track record with Nashville but he says the same things all defensive coaches say.... that he plays a style which complements his roster and he can coach more offensively blah blah blah...

These kinds of coaches always revert to a super-defensive style when the going gets tough -- and I can assure you guys, the going will get tough this season.

The team isn't exactly an offensive dynamo is it? Trotz will play as he has for the last decade... boring.

We're going to experience some growing pains if we go with a young team regardless of the style we play; for the sake of our kids and we the fans, let's play some fun, firewagon hockey!

As for Desjardins, I admittedly don't know much about his style other than it seems pretty up-tempo and aggressive.

If I'm Linden and Benning, I wait to see what happens with Bylsma. I know he's not a perfect hire either, but when he first took over in Pittsburgh I really admired their style of play. Aggressive, but capable of shutting people down in tight games as well. Great transition and puck movement. Reminds me of how the Bruins play now and a little bit of how we played in 2010 and '11. Liked his demeanor in the room on 24/7 as well, for whatever that's worth.

Rumsfeld wrote:So Trotz and Desjardins appear the front-runners until we learn Bylsma's fate.

Hell no to Desjardins! only because he's a tad too nice?

It appears, though, that Desjardins will not demand respect. He’s a soft-spoken guy who just doesn’t work that way. But if he is put into a position where respect and attention are expected, he certainly earns the trust of the players. That’s why it seems he will be a better head coach than an assistant coach.

The big sticking point with that style, though, is what happens when a veteran player decides he doesn’t want to respect the head coach. It rarely happens in junior hockey or the AHL. In both situations, the coach has the carrot of career advanacement as a natural motivator. In the NHL, players can adapt a bit of an attitude, especially with inexperienced coaches.

Rumsfeld wrote:So Trotz and Desjardins appear the front-runners until we learn Bylsma's fate.

Hell no to Desjardins! only because he's a tad too nice?

It appears, though, that Desjardins will not demand respect. He’s a soft-spoken guy who just doesn’t work that way. But if he is put into a position where respect and attention are expected, he certainly earns the trust of the players. That’s why it seems he will be a better head coach than an assistant coach.

The big sticking point with that style, though, is what happens when a veteran player decides he doesn’t want to respect the head coach. It rarely happens in junior hockey or the AHL. In both situations, the coach has the carrot of career advanacement as a natural motivator. In the NHL, players can adapt a bit of an attitude, especially with inexperienced coaches.

Rumsfeld wrote:
These kinds of coaches always revert to a super-defensive style when the going gets tough -- and I can assure you guys, the going will get tough this season.

The team isn't exactly an offensive dynamo is it? Trotz will play as he has for the last decade... boring.

We're going to experience some growing pains if we go with a young team regardless of the style we play; for the sake of our kids and we the fans, let's play some fun, firewagon hockey!

To add to that, most of our D-men aren't the "lock it down" type. Hamhuis and Tanev are good, smart players, but Bieksa, Edler and Garrison are all prone to bad reads and own-zone mistakes, which makes playing for the 1-0 W kinda tough. There's also the fact that our goaltenders have a combined 88 NHL games played (3 more than Luongo himself had in 2010-11)... yeah I don't like our chances of turning into the LA Kings anytime soon.

Looks like the Corner and its entire sock drawer select Barry Trotz as their new head coach. He's the bee's knees. Let's not forget people, Trotz had a frigging STACKED team in 2007 and did sweet fuck-all with it.

I guess I can just change the feed from HD to standard for all the press conferences.